Oakland A’s: Sean Murphy fourth in Rookie of the Year vote

Although he did not take home any hardware, Oakland A’s rookie catcher Sean Murphy had a solid finish in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.

We had already known that Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy was not going to win the AL Rookie of the Year award. He was not one of the three finalists mentioned ahead of Monday night’s announcement, removing some anticipation from the vote. Instead, A’s fans could only hope that he had a strong showing on the ballot.

It turns out that Murphy did just that. He finished fourth out of the ten players to receive votes for the AL Rookie of the Year.

Murphy had a strong rookie campaign for the A’s. He produced a solid .233/.364/.457 batting line over his 140 plate appearances, hitting seven homers and five doubles. Murphy was also solid defensively, throwing out 29% of would be basestealers and showing solid range behind the plate.

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One has to wonder if Murphy would have had a better finish had the 2020 season been able to happen in full. He struggled out of the gates, his .173/.300/.265 batting line over his first 40 plate appearances weighing down his overall numbers.

However, his latter part of the season was far more productive. He had produced a .256/.390/.537 batting line over his final 100 plate appearances, hitting six homers and all five of his doubles. That production helped boost Murphy to that fourth place finish, and gave plenty of hope that he could be a building block for the future.

It would not be a surprise if that future came sooner rather than later. Murphy is the type of catcher that teams dream of – one that not only has the defensive acumen to stick behind the plate, but a strong bat and plenty of power. It may not be long until he becomes a star himself.

But for now, Sean Murphy will have to settle for a fourth place finish in the AL Rookie of the Year vote. It may just be the beginning of a strong career.